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July 22, 2011

Vintage Books, How to Alter and Price

When I showed you on a past post some vintage books that were selling in my booth I had requests to show you how I altered mine.

So, here ya go!

Pick up some books at the thrift store, they don't have to be really old just look a little worn, certainly not a new book

I rip off the front and side binding, some people rip off the whole hard cover.

At this point you could do like Ballard Design, tie them up with twine and call it a day.

Or you could pull out an interesting page from the book and some old sheet music

Get a graphics from Graphics Fairy and and run the book page or sheet music through your printer

At this point I pull out my rubber stamps and walnut ink

and kind of mess them up!

I mod podged this altered page onto the front page of the book, then fancy it up and I am finished

I price these between $6 - $10 depending on how fancy they are and which embellishments I use.

I am still on vacation and having a wonderful time! Yesterday I spent the entire day going to antique and thrift stores with Deb from Garage Sale Gal...Toooo Fun! I fly home to Orlando tomorrow night and as soon as I can get my brains together I will show you pictures of our great adventure.

Love these Carol! I have some coverless books and may alter 1 or 2 and see how they turn out! Once again...thank you for sharing your lovelies and the how to!! You're a delight!Have a wonderful Friday and weekend!Hugs,Becky

Carol your books are simply lovely. How kind of you to share your techniques. These will make great gifts as I can see not only feminine alterations but also manly ideas and themes. Vacation visions to you...

CarolI love your tutorials. This would make a great gift for my sisters. Especially if I personalize them with old photos of them as children. I'm thinking of X-mas in July!Safe traveling mercies to you!

Thanks so much for sharing your wonderful idea and beautiful designs. I love people (like you) who are so willing to share, especially with awesome tutorials. I could see making these for gifts by adding special touches that make you think of a specific special person for a truly "I made this for YOU!" type of gift. How special would the giftee feel? They would know you truly were thinking of them! Again, many thanks!

Heavenly, and you an angel for showing us how to do it, your process...I love to see how others create. And you know, in ALL of the art supplies I own, I do not have walnut ink spray...I shall fix that...

Hi Carol, I'm glad you are having fun! Your booth looks great, (I took a peek)!I love your book tutorial and I love doing those myself! Too much fun and one of my favorite things to do! Hugs, stay cool if you can and have a great weekend! Marilou

I sure enjoyed our shopping/thrift day and wish we could have done some "crafting"!!Have a safe trip home and we'll talk soon! The little dresser sold that day!! That was a good investment!Warmly,deb :)

Carol, You are always so generous with sharing your creations and how you make them!! Thanks so much!! I know that I am not the only one who truly appreciates you doing this!!Have a great vacation and I can't wait to see your pics when you get back!!How are you weathering the HEAT!!!!

Hi Carol,I'm so happy you and Deb had a fun day of shopping together. It's so nice to be able to get together with blog buddies!To answer your question about the snowmen heads....I gently push the soft clay into the neck of the salt/pepper shaker and typically the head dries firmly attached to the shaker. I have had the occasional head that was loose so I used some glue to adhere it after the clay was dry. The one show I do is a small town craft show so prices have to be pretty reasonable. I had them priced between $5.00 and $8.00 depending on what the base was. I'm glad you bought that bag of salt/pepper shakers. Have fun making them!Jane

OMGosh, Carol I love these! I've just got to find me some old books. Now there probably won't be an old book in site for miles when I go out on the hunt lol! On second thought I probably don't even have to go out to hunt any....I've got some stashed away somewhere in my storage building I'm sure...that I could alter :) Thanks so much for sharing your tutorial on how you did these....they are gorgeous :)

I'll be back to see your pics from visiting MN and Deb....I was at her blog earlier and it looks like you two had a ball...you two are just dolls, you know that?! I'm glad you two got the chance to meet in person...Hope you have a great week... Big hugs,Queenie